Dillie the Deer Maligned as Dangerous

Since Dillie the deer has gotten a lot of press, her human mom, vet Dr. Melanie Butera, has gotten a lot of grief. The panic runs the gamut from worrying Dillie is plotting murder to fretting the GPS collar might suffocate her.

“It seems like the hunters are the ones that get the most upset,” says Dr. Butera. On Friday’s Bill O’Reilly show Alisyn Camerota, one of Fox’s blond correspondents, picked the Butera family as the stupidest thing of the week. “Haven’t we all learned,” Camerota said, “that when you live with a domesticated wild animal, one day it wakes up and eats you.”

Hasn’t Camerota learned that an animals can’t be both domesticated and wild? That there’s a difference between carnivores and herbivores? Or even that this particular deer was farm-bred? Maybe Keith Olbermann, a big fan of deer–or at least security videos of deer invading stores–will respond.

“I wondered how she is going to to kill me. Is she going to apply for an American Express card and get on the Home Shopping Network and order a machete?” asked Dr. Butera.

Not that we’re fans of pet deer. Dillie is an exception because she was born on a farm (not in the wild), raised by an experienced wildlife vet, who has a huge enclosure for her. Plus, she close the house (particularly the guest bedroom) over the barn. You can see what she’s up to on the Dillie cam.

Ohio has about 1,000 deer farms, which have lots of rules because of CWD. A Mennonite who sells big bucks to canned hunts couldn’t make money off Dillie and didn’t want to spend money to save her. Yet, he did bring the tiny fawn to Dr. Butera in the middle of the night to save her after the doe rejected her.

Dillie is nearly blind, which makes her more dependent and docile. Dillie is not without mischief, however. She once stood on her hind legs to get flowers off the top of the fridge and regularly knocks over beverages in a quest for ice. But about the biggest problem she causes is that she makes the dog jealous for attention.